I had no plans to do this... I took him at his word that he was retiring his character and hosting his new show as himself, but then I heard he'd still be using his character's swerved name ("Colbear") rather than his own given name ("Colburt")... I still haven't seen his new show but last week I saw a tweet where he bragged about Jeb Bush 'getting his Trump on' as a guest, and enthusing "I'd vote for this guy!"... so he's still in character, at least on Twitter.

This strikes me as downright reckless considering what a powerful xenochrovortex swirled around that mask ... It's possible that the new confusing ratio is intentional and appropriate, but it seems more likely to me that it was a casual decision, in which case he may now find himself in over his head a bit ... as is often the case in these matters, the reason it seems more likely to me is a vivid coincidence:

I had posted (at the top of Mount Darkweb) a longer version of the first paragraph above, asking 'so he's still in character??' Two days later, while listening to the Jays game on the radio, I posted a followup comment which ended with the definite statement: "...so he's still in character." As soon as I posted it, the very next second, the host on the radio said that "here at baseball control in Toronto, the internet has disappeared!". I chuckled at the timing, but thought little of it until a couple of hours later when I learned what had happened the night that SC's new show debuted: apparently at the last minute, the Meme stepped in and threatened to prevent the show from airing!! ..."the computers kept crashing"... http://deadline.com/2015/09/stephen-colbert-late-show-tech-glitch-1201519929/

This is not all, of course -- there's plenty of poetic parallel processing in the synchrosphere -- but it's why I'm posting. If Stephen Colbert had gradually convinced himself that the incredible xenochroweather of 2009 was some kind of illusion, and/or wasn't about him, and/or that there is no Android Meme and he doesn't have to step onto a new TV show the way a sorcerer steps into the 'ring' with demons, then it might be a case where his doubles may be over but his troubles have yet to come...